Sunday Sessions – The X-Factor

By The Telltale Mind on October 18, 2015 • ( Leave a comment )

X-Factor, the original series from the UK, is currently in full swing and to say the show has had its ups and downs over the years is putting it lightly. Created in 2004 it became a juggernaut to which all other reality music shows aspired to be. American Idol? Definitely not as good then or now. The last few years have seen the juggernaut become less so, dropping in ratings consistently from one to the next. Nothing seems to have aided Simon Cowell’s flagship show though it now arguably features its strongest judging lineup in a long time with Cowell, Cheryl and newcomers Rita Ora and Nick Grimshaw on the judging panel. Gone is Louis and his tired catchphrases and joke acts, gone is the audition room which felt incredibly dated and gone is Dermot O’Leary though it is hard to say whether that is a positive or a negative. It still has some humps to overcome though in its fight to stay relevant. For one, though Simon wants young, hip, current artists, he continues to feature music on the show that is primarily from the 1980s. That is not to say that there is anything wrong with the music, but if you are between the ages of 5-30 at the moment, you want to hear music from this generation, namely the last ten years or so. Current music. Relevant music. Music that a star of today is going to sing. Continually regurgitating 80’s night, Whitney night, Elton night, Queen night, etc., is not going to do it. There is no disrespect to those artists, they are fantastic in many ways, but if you were to look at the top 40 today – they are not in it. Having so many flashback music nights is not doing the show any favours. Instead of featuring music from different decades, why not feature different genres of music? Current rock, dance, soul, pop, and country, whatever – just something that modern audiences are going to listen to and associate with. To sum it up, the show is not beyond fixing, it simply has to stop traveling back in time, it needs younger audiences and maybe, it can cut down on how many shows it produces in a year. Four months of shows is a lot. Hopefully the show can right itself before it is past the point of all return. Below are some performances of this year featuring some hopefuls who might have what it takes to win it all, with some former contestants who have made it big.